Theresa Angelopoulos

Anth 3980/GloS 3900

Essay #1 : Biography of a Hip-Hop Pioneer-Baby Love

Puerto Rican b-girl, Baby Love, has set the stage for B-girls and B-boys all over the world. She is a true hip-hop pioneer with the dance in her heart and the love for it on her sleeve. From her past time with the Rock Steady Crew to her present work with Collective Seven, she has made a huge impact on people everywhere. Through her dance she has inspired and given hope to many. She had a short but very successful career with the Rock Steady Crew in the 80s including appearing in the legendary movie Beat Street and being a key artist on the album, “Ready for Battle,” which not only furthered her career but also opened doors for breakers all over the world. After a 20 year pause, she has recently reappeared in the b-girl/b-boy scene as an indispensable member of the Collective Seven, who encourage b-girls and b-boys everywhere to live and love this dance. In the 80s, when asked what she thought the future of breaking would be, she replied, “It’s gonna last in the hearts of the kids who’ve been doing it for a long time…It’s gonna go right back to the streets. I think it belongs there. It belongs in people’s hearts…” (qtd. in Riviera, 77).

Growing up in Manhattan, Daisy, Baby Love, Castro, now Daisy Cutajar, opened many opportunities which put her in, “the right place at the right time,” (Angelopoulos, 2008). She started dancing at age six, practicing different forms such as flamenco, modern jazz, and ballet. As she got older, breaking was unfolding right in front of her nose. Her brother, Andy Castro was part of the Young City Boys, and so was his friend, Kenneth Gabbert, aka Ken Swift, (Women in Hip Hop). Daisy and Andy lived on 95^th/ 96^th and Amsterdam Ave in NYC, and Ken grew up 2 blocks away on 97^th/98^th St and Amsterdam. This is before the Rock Steady Crew came to Manhattan and established the RSC Park on 99^th St and Amsterdam. Daisy would watch her brother and Ken breaking. When she was 14 ½ she started to learn how to incorporate these moves into her pre-existing knowledge and experience with dance. In the interview, she recounted her brother teaching her “footwork” which is called 6 steps today. She then mastered it to the extent of what she considered mastering the footwork. The Young City Boys, Young City Girls, and a lot of other crew members would hang out in what became known as Rock Steady Park. Some people would dance, and others just came to watch, but “that is how it all happened…it truly did happen with my brother helping me articulate the dance, and watching Ken…” (Angelopoulos, 2008).

“While African-American men compromise the majority of the pioneers of Hip Hop, it must be stated that MANY women were also pioneers…” (Hip Hop [Feminism] 101). It is very difficult to be a successful female in this testosterone-filled industry, yet Baby Love has proven many wrong in the face of opposition. In the interview, I asked Baby Love if she felt like she had any male counterparts that accepted her or looked at her as a competitive rival. She quickly responded saying, “When I was dancing…I didn’t battle anybody. I didn’t battle another girl…woman…or lady because I didn’t know of any. There wasn’t another b-girl that I knew of that I faced or interacted with…probably the 1^st battle that I had was on Beat Street. In that scene at the club where we’re all dancing…and we’re all going down one by one to dance, that’s probably my one and only documented battle…and it wasn’t even someone who was b-boying, it was more poppin’ and lockin’. It was interesting enough,” (Angelopoulos, 2008). Riviera also talked about the outnumbered b-girls, but attributed it to a more deeply seeded issue of this country, “Breaking’s male dominance is not hip hop or ghetto-specific, but an extension if our society’s general patriarchal norms,” (p74). This may be why is WAS the norm, and there was no visible counterpart for Baby Love at that time.

In 1982, the RSC and others were asked to perform at the Ritz nightclub, (Rock Steady Crew, Wikipedia.com). Other fancier clubs were also inviting crews to battle for others to watch; putting these artists on display for all to see. There were many mixed emotions among breakers and others about hip hop becoming more commercialized through their new presence downtown. When I asked baby Love how she felt about this, she responded coolly, “I didn’t have a problem with that, because I think that even when we were doing those things, we never lost…the essence of it…in my opinion. Even though we were dancing…now we were getting paid for it…I still think we danced with our hearts; we danced knowing that we LOVED to dance. It just happens that someone was willing to pay us to do it, and why not? So I didn’t see it like that…and I think it took it to the level that we are at today,” (Angelopoulos, 2008).

In 1983, Kool Lady Blue took over managing the RSC, which Baby Love was a part of. This time in the history of the Rock Steady Crew is considered the “pre-1984 hiatus,” (Rock Steady Crew, Wikipedia.com). Around this time Baby Love appeared in the infamous movie, Beat Street, and also was a major part of the album “Ready for Battle” by the RSC. She was a part of crew of 6 who toured Europe for their album. “Rock Steady Crew has a lot of members, but when you think about the core people who were traveling, there was only 6 of us…RSC is huge and has been around for a very long time. I’m not part of the original RSC, I’m part of the, what I like to say, is a sub crew that came out of the RSC in the 80s. There were pockets of RSC, and we just happened to be the 6 core people who traveled, who performed on the record, who did all of these things…” recounts baby Love, (Angelopoulos, 2008). The appearance in the movie and her involvement with the album gave her instant fame. She became popular from a combination of what she was involved in for these 2-3 years. This 15 year old b-girl paved the way for young girls everywhere through this fame. Baby Love stated, “I was traveling a lot already in Europe, a lot of things were happening simultaneously with Beat Street, it wasn’t just the movie. It was the album, the touring, so I think Beat Street just added more to put a stamp on it that there is a b-girl out there and that if there were more, they remained underground, but there was a b-girl out there, and I was that b-girl,” (Angelopoulos, 2008). Having an album and touring in Europe set their crew apart from other break crews and allowed them to excel to a higher level. While in Europe, on the “first international hip hop tour,” their album went silver and gold. (Rock Steady Crew, Wikipedia.com). With all of their adventures in Europe, they were also invited to perform for the Queen. The record label they were with, Charisma Records, went out of business and was bought by Virgin Records who didn’t proceed with any future projects with the RSC. “This caused friction among the members of the group who decided to put RSC on hold for a while and concentrate on other projects,” (Rock Steady Crew, Wikipedia.com). Baby Love remembers this time clearly and states, “…we traveled for a long time, and when the crew started to fall apart when the contract was over…we were scheduled to do a second album, but that fell through…we kind of just all went our separate ways,” (Angelopoulos, 2008).

Baby Love’s fast paced life also kept her from having a ‘normal’ high school experience, which she actually doesn’t mind missing. Throughout her time on the road she had a chaperone and a tutor to make sure she stayed out of trouble and stayed on task with her schooling. This lasted until her senior year which is when the RSC was done touring and she completed her last year in school as opposed to being on the road. When I asked her if she missed that part of growing up and having the high school experience, she laughed and said, “I thought I did, and then when I went, I didn’t. I prefer the chaperone and the tutor. I think it’s because kids didn’t know how to accept me in the classroom after not being there…it was like, well who is this kid, who’s this new kid on the block…and you know high school kids, they aren’t always that nice,” (Angelopoulos, 2008). After high school, Baby Love went to college to pursue the art of singing so she could be involved in musical theater. She said when she left, she never turned back, “I never turned back until 20 years later…when I left the crew I left everything and break dancing…” (Angelopoulos, 2008).

Tying into her own reasons for leaving, I asked Baby Love why she thought that people slowed down in the mid-80s and didn’t see breaking as big as they once had. She didn’t speak for all; she just recounted her reasons for leaving, “You know, I don’t know. I don’t know why it slowed down. I know why I left. And I don’t know if it was for the same reasons of other people. I know I left because I needed a break (laughing) no pun intended! I know I left because I needed a break…I’d been hurt by the culture, the crew, and I wanted to get out… I wanted to re-heal myself, recover myself. I wanted to find out who I was and where I was going. I know I left because of that, but I don’t know why it died,” (Angelopoulos, 2008). She also talked about the high demand at that time for breakers in the commercial world. There were many different crews being sought out such as the Dynamic Breakers, the Dynamic Rockers, the New Your City Breakers, and many others. This brought up my question about what her thoughts were when she saw the New York City Breakers performing at Ronald Reagan’s 1984 Inauguration. Energetically she replied, “I thought that was awesome…we’re taking this dance to THAT level. Again, what it does, it says we are here to stay, we’re not going anywhere! When b-girling and b-boying came around, everybody thought it was a fad, it was gonna come and go, that it didn’t have a chance to stand, And still to this day, when you walk down the street in NYC, people still have their cardboards, they’re still break dancing on the corner, and tourists are still stopping by and are still looking and are amazed by what this dance can do, what people can do with their bodies because if this dance…and it’s still something that people want to see today, 25-30 years later. This is here to stay. And I think that every time we put it on the map, every time we commercialize it, unfortunately some people won’t agree with what I’m saying, but anytime we put it on the map, anytime we commercialize it we make it more, we market as a point in history,” (Angelopoulos, 2008).

Baby Love took a ‘break” from breaking for about 20 years. In 2006, the forming of the group, Collective Seven, brought her back to her love for the dance. It had never gone anywhere, but had been somewhat dormant for a while. The Collective Seven is a group of seven women breakers from all over the US. The members include Baby Love, Severe, and Vendetta who are all in Atlanta; Rockafella from NYC; Aiko from San Jose; Lady Champ from Chicago; and Beta Rawlz from Miami. Their vision is to inspire across the world: strength, power, and confidence. When I asked Baby Love what the Collective Seven was, she replied whole-heartedly, “It’s every beat of my heart, It’s every beat that you hear from my heart, and I don’t even know how to explain it better than that…when something is born so naturally, so organically, and truly is born from the heart, from the purest thing ever…It’s seven women who met, who crossed paths, and even before we knew it, we were Collective Seven. We didn’t’ know what it was going to be, what was the name, we just knew, at least in my opinion, I knew that somehow, someway, that these women were going to impact my life in such a positive way, and that we would be doing great things in the future to support this culture, to grow it, to live it, to educate it, to do all those wonderful things. I knew that we would be bonded somehow…I knew these women before I even met them…we represent women in power, women and strength, women who, everyday, educate each other on what it’s like to be a woman in this culture and in this environment, and to be positive role models…to do this because we love it, because it comes from the heart and nowhere else,” (Angelopoulos, 2008).

All of the women in the Collective Seven bring something different to the table. Within all of these amazing women, there is so much history and education alone that they all bring to the table. They are all different individuals coming together with a similar love for breaking and the desire to educate and empower those around them. I could write a paper on each one of these ladies and talk about their histories, accomplishments, and current projects. These phenomenal women are all unique in their own way and bring something different to the group. When I asked Baby Love what her role was in the Collective Seven, she sweetly replied, “…you know I don’t dance anymore like the rest of the ladies do…I like to say that I’m the glue that brings a little bit of history and who wants to continue moving this in a very positive direction for the younger generation, you know, I think that we all do, I think that’s the role that we all play. There’s not a specific role…we’re equally involved in this, in making decisions in what message we want to put out there, what type of event we want to put out there…it’s not just about empowering women or the younger generations of women who are coming out into the scene, but it is also empowering and providing vision to the young fellas, the young guys coming out, of the men who are doing it now today, so that they can learn how to respect what we represent in this environment, in this culture…incorporate women and men together in this very positive movement, together as one…cuz we’re always gonna battle each other, but respect it, respect our circle, respect our space when we’re out there, as we respect yours. And that’s the beginning of creating this very positive movement,” (Angelopoulos, 2008).

In the middle of the interview with Baby Love she started talking about the love of the dance, and the positivity that resulted from breaking. Many people looked down on this new form of dance, but didn’t actually realize the great opportunities it was providing and the safe places it was giving the younger generation to explore. Baby Love reminisced and said, “…you gotta be in love with the dance, you gotta be in love with every step that you take when you’re in this culture, and in this world, you gotta be in love with it, because if you’re not in love with it, you have to remove yourself from it, because you won’t put in that positive energy…right now b-girling and b-boying, after all these years, after 25-30 years, it still sometimes represents such a negative connotation with people…a street dance. It IS a street dance, but there’s nothing wrong with it being a street dance…there’s nothing wrong with it. It was born in the street…but it has done a lot of positive things for people, where in the 80s where people would probably be shooting each other or fighting, we would say, you know what, let’s battle, let’s take it out on the dance floor, let’s do it like this, so how can that not be a positive thing, So from the get go, from the beginning, from the birth of this, it was all about being positive, it was all about getting rid of the violence, guns, and things of that nature, and bringing in the dance to substitute it. You know what, I don’t need a gun to battle you, I can dance you, I can use my moves with my body, with my head, put things together, because when you think about the dancing, or b-boying, you have to really think about every move you’re gonna make so you’re strategizing. You’re constantly using your head to think…I’m gonna let my body flow to the dance, to the break of the beat…it takes a smart person to do that,” (Angelopoulos, 2008). Obviously, this makes complete sense. One would have to be intelligent to put these moves together and come up with routines or new moves. The stigma that society places on many of these young dancers is that of being uneducated, dangerous, and troublesome. However, I think Baby Love said it perfectly, and who better to say it then someone who has lived it.

While trying to research for this paper, I found it very difficult to find sources that included Baby Love. I was disappointed, but not surprised. Not because she wasn’t important in hip hop history, or that her contributions were insignificant; but simply because she is a woman in a male dominated industry who made a name for herself in the beginning stages of this world-wide movement. Riviera talks about this in her book, New York Ricans From the Hip Hop Zone, “Breaking has not been a male-exclusive domain…nevertheless, b-girls always have been overwhelmingly outnumbered…B-girls have had to struggle hard against an exclusion premised in rigid notions of masculinity and femininity,” (p74). I was upset that I couldn’t find more about this pioneer of hip hop. I wanted to create a space for more to be available about her. Her story NEEDS to be told. When I asked her, as a pioneer, how she felt about the lack of publications about her, she sweetly responded, “I don’t. I don’t feel anything about it. You know, it is what it is. It doesn’t impact me, because it doesn’t stop e from moving forward…I think that I have made a difference. . . I get a lot of emails from guys and girls telling me how I’ve inspired them. How the first time they saw me on Beat Street, they wanted to dance. And that’s enough for me, I don’t need to be documented everywhere else, If I get a handful of people who say I’ve inspired them to dance, which I have, that’s all that matters. Because it only takes a handful of people to take for me to trickle down to the rest, and I believe it has…I didn’t even know I had impacted so many people. It never even occurred to me that there wasn’t a lot of documentation about me. It doesn’t occur to me today…it’s a shame, I think, when people want to go out and do a little bit of history and not know it, it’s a shame for that, it really is, but if I can impact a handful of people, and that trickles down, I’m content, I feel good about it. And if it only took Beat Street to do that, then that’s what it was supposed to be,” (Angelopoulos, 2008).

Daisy, Baby Love, Cutajar, is such a humble, considerate, and good-hearted woman. I am so honored to have met her, let alone be able to interview her. This is history in the making, and as a hip hop scholar, I feel I have made my mark at the starting line. However, this is not a race that I am in; rather a journey to learn and possibly help educate others about different aspects of this revolution that began before I was born. I feel proud to have brought the possibility for others to be able to research and find more information about this wonderful woman; information that tells the story of many; information that should have a voice and a place in hip hop education. Hip hop is, “an American culture, the daughter of jazz…the only American culture form of music that has spread around the globe and affected every nation on this planet,” (Hip Hop [Feminism] 101). That statement is so powerful, and represents the music inside of us. I know it’s inside of me, and I definitely know it is inside the entire being of b-girl Baby Love. She is an inspiration to many, as she is also to me. She has many roles in her life that I believe she portrays whole-heartedly: teacher, friend, wife, mother, and of course, a b-girl. In the interview, Baby Love summed up how she feels the best when she said, “I’m complete, I feel complete now when I think about how I felt about it in the past to today. I am complete. There are no other words to describe it except that,” (Angelopoulos, 2008).